MathGroup frequently presents opportunities for users to develop quick, efficient code to solve a wide variety of problems. In this talk I will present various principles that I have come across in participating in these algorithmic explorations. These principles usually involve optimized data structures such as PackedArray objects and the optimal use of built-in functions, but can also include various optimizations that occur behind the scenes such as autocompilation and listability. The basic theme to all of these principles is to avoid using top-level code to do loops, and instead let the lower level internal code handle these loops.